Under 21s bid farewell to Euro with Dutch defeat

Our U21 national team was left without a point against Germany and Romania after their first two European Championship matches, so, regardless of the result of their last group-stage fixture against the Netherlands, it was already certain that they could not progress to the knockout stages. However, Zoltán Gera's team was hoping to spring a surprise against the Dutch and end their tournament on a high note. Meanwhile, the Dutch had everything at stake, given that after their draws against the other two group rivals, they definitely had to win to progress.

Hungary coach Gera made six changes to his starting lineup from the Romania match, Benedek Varju, Mihály Kata, András Huszti, Donát Bárány, Csaba Bukta and Kristóf Hinora joining Szabolcs Mezei, Bendegúz Bolla, Attila Mocsi, Alen Skribek and goalkeeper Balázs Bese on the pitch at the start.

The first quarter of an hour saw the visitors shade possession but Hungary had the better opportunities, twice seeing the ball cleared by opposing defenders when in promising positions in the Dutch penalty area. However, the Netherlands soon took control of the game, their attacks becoming more and more dangerous and Bese twice having to make saves. Hungary held out until the 42nd minute when De Wit took control of defence-splitting pass, surged towards the Hungary goal under pressure from Varju and fired the ball into the bottom-right corner of the net.

The second half started badly for the hosts when the Dutch, who had made three half-time substitutions, were awarded a penalty in the 46th minute for a foul on Gakpo, Boadu converting the spotkick down the centre of the goal to make it 2-0. Zoltán Gera then decided to make a three substitutionsof his own, Norbert Szendrei, András Csonka and László Deutsch coming on for András Huszti, Kristóf Hinora and Alen Skribek. The pressure on Hungary continued to be applied though and the Netherlands made it count in the 58th minute, Gepko shooting into the bottom-right corner from 23 metres.

Seven minutes later, Hungary had something to celebrate, a quick counter-attack seeing Bukta play the ball to Csonka who passed to another substitute Bence Bíró, but Dutch defender Sven Botman knocked him off balance inside the penalty area and Bolla dispatched the resulting spotkick to pull a goal back. In the 70th minute though, the Dutch took advantage of a defensive error and Gakpo completed his hat-trick to restore his team's three-goal cushion. Two late goals from Botman and Brobbey added gloss to the scoreline for the Netherlands, who eventually ran out 6-1 winners.